Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for controlling an actuator, in particular for a motor vehicle, which includes detecting an input signal and generating a control signal for the actuator therefrom, ordering an operation into a prescribed priority level and processing the operation in accordance with the priority level. The invention also relates to a device for controlling an actuator, in particular for a motor vehicle, having an arithmetic unit which detects input signals and generates control signals for the actuator therefrom, the arithmetic unit ordering operations into prescribed priority levels and processing the operations in accordance with the priority level. The device and the method are used, for example, in a motor vehicle for controlling an engine.
Published European Patent Application 0 608 456 A1 has already described a method and a device for controlling an actuator as described above. The device has an arithmetic unit with an operating system which holds ready time management procedures that enter synchronous operations and asynchronous operations into a synchronous list or an asynchronous list, the synchronous list having priority over the asynchronous list during processing. In that context synchronous operations are understood to be operations which are triggered as a function of a crank angle. Asynchronous operations are understood to include operations which are not directly dependent on a crank angle. The synchronous operations are always entered into the synchronous list and the asynchronous operations are always entered into the asynchronous list, so that the synchronous operations always have a higher priority than the asynchronous operations during processing, irrespective of operating states of the engine.